Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 8 March 2017
165. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government his views on the fact that social housing construction output is behind the annual targets set in the Rebuilding Ireland action plan; and the targets for annual output of new-build social housing completions in each year from 2016 to 2021 compared to expected output based on the 8,430 approvals, in tabular form. [12400/17]
View answerThe need to increase and accelerate the delivery of social housing for those on the waiting list is a key focus of the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, which provides for an ambitious social housing programme of 47,000 units to 2021 with funding of €5.35 billion.
The delivery against this target has already been well advanced and in 2016, we saw 18,380 social housing supports provided nationally, with expenditure of €935 million on social housing over the year. This exceeded the 2016 target of 17,240, giving a very positive start to the challenge of meeting the ambitious targets in Rebuilding Ireland. The 2016 build target within Rebuilding Ireland was 2,260 units, made up of new builds by local authorities and approved housing bodies, through regeneration, rapid builds, newly constructed Part V units and the remediation of vacant properties. The estimated output, subject to final confirmation of data, is 2,920.
Under Rebuilding Ireland, approximately 26,000 social housing units are to be delivered via construction activity, some 18,000 of which will be local authority and AHB new build units, with the balance comprising units constructed through Part V and void units refurbished. The 8,430 new social homes being delivered via the 504 approved projects in the construction pipeline represent a significant tranche of the required delivery. It should be noted these projects are those approved up until end-2016, which have since been added to, and do not include the approved bundles of Public Private Partnership construction projects for around 1,000 new social housing units. Since becoming Minister, I have approved projects to the value of approximately €400 million, which will deliver over 3,000 additional new social homes, and further approvals are issuing on an ongoing basis.
The annual breakdown of delivery between the various mechanisms will depend on a number of factors, including the pace at which individual projects proceed. These will be kept under ongoing review by my Department, in consultation with local authorities, in order to ensure that overall delivery on an annual basis is maximised.
